Ma volunteers at my niece's elementary school, so everyone there knows her. well, my niece's teacher found this little cutie in her pond and didn't wanna leave the little guy there(cats, i guess. why else would you pick up a baby turtle?). he was the only one she saw, so i'm guessing it's a small pond. she brought him in to show the class, and let another teacher hold him to show HER class, but apparently the kids were arguing over him, so Ma took him in. :V

since we were so ill prepared for a TURTLE(fish... i can deal with. turtles? nope. :V), we don't even have turtle kibble for the little guy.

BUT! i'm doing ALOT of research on what he'll need, and already warned Ma that he'll need a HUGE tank soon. she's gonna get some turtle kibble tomorrow(Friday) so he'll at least have things to eat.

i call him Turtle. :I Ma wants to name him after the teacher who found him. i'm not getting attached, other than "d'awww! cute baby turtle!".

i honestly have no idea. :I it may have been the offspring of a former pet, since she saw NO other turtles around. it wasn't MY choice to take in the turtle. i just ended up giving up my idea for a trio of breeding guppies because Ma took back the 10 for Turtle.

Congrats looks like your good ol' average Joe of the turtle world: red eared slider! His belly spots do kind of confuse me o.o so perfect. I'm not gonna hark you on keeping a wild animal, it's tempting since baby turtles are so cute ;) you may want to check your local wildlife laws however.

I know he will need very good nutrition, the biggest problem with turtles I see in rescues is bad nutrition messing up their shell growth, the "scales" on the shell can become all deformed, the shell starts to feel soft.. Very bad.
Also turtles need STRONG filters because they are very messy little guys. A proper turtle set up can run you up quite a bit! Good luck with him if you keep him!

Also as to why he was there: turtles go back to where they were born to lay eggs (like sea turtles!) of course, this often ends up in our yards.. They especially like our soft garden soil. We have a mama res come to our yard every spring, and I always see her coming back (I carry her back to the creek). I've yet to actually see the babies, but I usually avoid digging around too much for a month or two :D

ALSO; he DOES have red patches on his head? Otherwise my res guess is wrong.. o.o just noticed

asked a pal on FB. she said Turtle is a Yellow Bellied Slider, which is a close cousin of the RES, and they often interbreed. :B

i know how much they can cost. :I the light alone is gonna peeve Ma off. i just hope she listens to me when i tell her how much it's gonna cost to keep Turtle. i'll stick with my bettas. Turtle is cute and all, but it's gonna end up costing us alot to keep him.

i had a turtle before :P you could feed them lettuce, minnows (fish), and some other veggies. you outta have water, and a slope of sand, gravel, etc. you have to clean the water too
my betta breeding plans where ruined for getting a cockatiel my dad's friend has a turtle too, a "Alligator turtle" :P there endangered

A snapping turtle? I can imagine they'd be horrible pets.. I often help turtles across the street during breeding season.. And snappers are the worst.. They bury themselves in the mud, and the smell is impossible to get off your hands, even if you wear something it goes through D: they grow huugeee as well. I did find a hatchling once and he was adorable..

Baby turtles are tempting to keep since they're so tiny and cute.. But they get abused so often. In Canada its illegal to sell turtles under 2", but you never see an in stores.. Everyone thinks turtles are highly infected with salmonella (so are lizards, snakes, frogs, even birds..) and it's highly illegal to import turtles and tortoises... So people catch babies in our creeks and keep them :(